POLICE officers in North Yorkshire are taking holiday to cover up sickness, it has been revealed.Yorkshire Press
A survey of the county's rank and file bobbies by the North Yorkshire branch of the Police Federation found 70 per cent of officers either have used or would consider using annual leave or lieu days if they are unwell, because they daren't phone in sick.

The figures were revealed at their annual open meeting at the Park Inn in York.

Addressing the audience, Mark Botham, chairman of North Yorkshire Police Federation, said: "That cannot be in anyone's best interests."

But he said it was "perhaps understandable when a member of the force's legal services department has been delivering seminars nationally on attendance procedures with advertising literature containing phrases such as getting malingering cops back to work or out'".

He asked for assurances from Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell that officers were treated "fairly, in line with national policy and with the dignity that they deserve".

Papers submitted to the police authority in February 2008 state: "At present sickness absence levels continue to reduce for police officers but police staff sickness remains a cause for concern."

A separate survey of members also found concerns about their training.

An online poll of officers in March this year asked: "Does North Yorkshire Police training equip staff with sufficient knowledge, skills and tools to interact effectively and fairly with a diverse workforce community?" Alarmingly, more than 71 per cent of officers replied "no".

He also expressed concern over declining officer numbers. He said the Capability and Capacity Review (CCR), introduced to assess how the force was functioning when Mr Maxwell came to the county in May last year, had actually meant "Continuous Cop reduction" - with 83 fewer officers now than this time last year, a drop of five per cent.

Paul McKeever, the new national chairman of the Police Federation, addressed the ranks for the first time at the meeting.

He called for someone with experience of policing to work within the Home Office and a new uniform for police community support officers (PCSOs) to be introduced nationally to make them easily identifiable to members of the public and less easily confused with serving officers.